The mobile and industrial cranes divisions of Mannesmann Dematic – now operating under new names of Demag Mobile Cranes and Demag Cranes & Components respectively – have both reported strong financial results for last year.
Turnover for the mobile cranes division (which includes Gottwald cranes as well as Demag telescopic mobiles and lattice boom crawlers) was up 20% in 2000 to E575m. Orders received also increased 20%.
At the end of the year the business unit had more than 2,600 employees, representing a rise of 180 employees compared to the previous year. The number of employees at the Zweibrücken plant including apprentices has now reached 1,980.
The company also points to figures from the VDMA (the German Machinery & Plant Manufacturers’ Association) that show it registered significant gains in market share in its home market.
In the USA, the second largest market for Demag Mobile Cranes, sales of large lattice-boom cranes were described as “excellent”. The telescopic city cranes AC 25 and AC 40-1 also achieved “unexpectedly high sales” in the USA, with 40 orders received in just a few months, according to Demag.
In the UK and Italy market leadership was maintained for AT cranes, the company claims, as well as positive performances in the Spanish and French markets, where record sales were achieved.
New product developments were cited as a major reason behind the positive figures, including the new AC 500-1, an eight-axle 500t AT. Within one year 25 units of this type were sold, the majority in Germany.
Demag Cranes & Components encompasses the product range of the former components division and cranes and handling equipment division of Mannesmann Dematic.
It is subdivided into three divisions: Drives, Handling Technology and Cranes. The Storage & Retrieval Machines product group will be managed by the Systems Division, based in Offenbach, although the sales, design and production staff remain at the Wetter location.
Chairman of the general management of Demag Cranes & Components is Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans-Otto Hannover. Prof. Heinrich Pack joins him as a member of the general management.
With sales of about E800m, Demag Cranes & Components is the world market leader for overhead cranes and hoists. Some 7,600 employees work at six German facilities in Wetter, Bad Bergzabern, Luisenthal, Nördlingen, Rheinberg and Uslar as well as at 20 foreign subsidiaries.
“The year 2000 was the best year in our company’s history, both in terms of orders received as well as in sales,” said Hannover.
“We increased our volume of business by 12% compared to 1999. This means that we are starting from an excellent position as a strong and healthy company to improve our competitiveness and to concentrate even more intensively on growth sectors such as automation in production, storage and port facilities, ergonomic load handling at the workplace and the service sector.”
